Margaret Calvert honoured at London Design Festival

She dreamt up Britain’s best-known road signs, from blue motorway arrows to circular speed limits and triangles warning of children crossing.

Last night, British designer Margaret Calvert OBE won the Lifetime Achievement Medal at the London Design Festival for her iconic public designs.

Mayor Sadiq Khan presented Calvert with the award, describing her as an “exceptional talent” at a ceremony to mark the festival’s opening.

Like all the best designs that last for generations, these designs just feel right – like there was no other option,It’s hard to think of anyone else who has done more to distinctively brand our country.

-Sadiq Khan

Together with her colleague Jock Kinneir, Calvert, 81, completely redesigned Britain’s road signs in the 1960s, one of the biggest graphic design projects ever.

The signs replaced an existing jumble of fonts and styles and became a model for modern road signage.

She went on to create the lettering for NHS hospitals, British Rail and the British Airports Authority and more recently overhauled the Government’s website.

Now in its fifteenth year, the London Design Festival sees hundreds of events take place across London from 16-24 September, showcasing the city's leading role in global design.

Landmark installations springing up across the city include Urban Cabin, a tiny home exploring a hyper-urbanised future, and Villa Walala, a colourful inflatable castle in Clerkenwell.

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